Are healthcare CIOs being cut out of the analytics loop?

Ken Terry |
April 1, 2016

The onset of ‘population health management’ as a new model for delivering patient care is underscoring the need for IT leaders to strike the right balance between both clinical and business intelligence, even it means not ‘owning’ the analytics function.

A healthy dose of collaboration

Joy Grosser, CIO of the seven-hospital Iowa Health System, said that her organization consistently sought feedback from its doctors, nurses and administrators to inform its strategy in population health management. This wasn’t merely about preparing for the future; the Iowa Health System already had an accountable care organization with contracts covering about 100,000 people.

"We are an IT-enabled organization," she said, explaining how clinical and IT staff worked together. "We want our strategic plan to be enabled by IT and information, but not to have compromises to that strategic plan made by IT. We want to drive side by side with the providers: collaboration is what we're trying to accomplish."